Archive | August 2012

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (C), Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) and Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi at the opening ceremony of the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Tehran on August 30, 2012.

Seated alongside Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the day that Iran took over presidency of the NAM of 120 nations, the presence of Ban could be seen as a blow to the diplomatic machinations of the United States and its Western allies, including Israel.

But, rather than making a forthright statement of support for Iran, the veteran South Korean diplomat showed his true colours as a servile puppet of American imperialism.

In the weeks leading up to the 16th summit of the NAM, Washington had been calling on the UN top official to decline attending the conference in Tehran. When Ban announced last week that he was going ahead, the US government was evidently peeved, calling his decision “a bit strange”.

What the United States and its Western allies feared most from the NAM summit was a global display of goodwill and solidarity towards Iran. For more than three decades now, Washington has invested huge political capital in a global campaign of vilification against Iran, denouncing the Islamic Republic as a “rogue state”, a sponsor of “international terrorism” and, over the last 10 years, as “a threat to world peace” from alleged nuclear weapons development.

The Western powers of the US, Britain and France in particular continually arrogate the mantle of “international community” to browbeat Iran, claiming that the nation is in “breach of its obligations”.

In attempting to portray Iran as a “pariah state” these powers, along with Israel, have partly succeeded in turning reality on its head and to assume the outrageous right to threaten Iran with pre-emptive military strikes and enforce crippling economic sanctions.

However, the attendance of some 120 nations in Tehran this week – two-thirds of the UN General Assembly – is a clear statement by the international community that resoundingly rejects this Western campaign of vilification.

Clearly, the majority of the world’s people do not see Iran as a rogue state or a threat to world peace. Indeed, the endorsement of Iran’s presidency of the NAM for the next three years is vindication of the country’s right to develop on its own terms, including the pursuit of peaceful nuclear technology.

In one fell swoop, the NAM summit liquidated Washington’s political capital for denigrating and isolating Iran as worthless. Seated at the top of the summit’s gathering in Tehran, the mere presence of the UN General Secretary to witness the appointment of Iran as the new leader of the Non-Aligned Movement was partially a symbolic vote of confidence.

But then, in his speech on this historic day, Ban engaged in a disgraceful diplomatic offensive. He pointedly denounced those who “deny the [Nazi] holocaust” and who call for the Zionist state’s destruction. Ban championed “Israel’s right to exist” without a word of condemnation of Israel’s decades-long crimes against humanity on the Palestinian people and its violation of countless UN resolutions. In that way, the UN chief was peddling the spurious Western propaganda that seeks to besmirch Iran’s principled opposition to the Zionist state’s record of criminality.

Ban went on to cast bankrupt Western aspersions on Iran’s nuclear rights. He said that Iran needed to use its presidency of the NAM to demonstrate peaceful intent, allay fears that it was developing nuclear weapons and to engage positively with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Western-dominated P5+1 group – the group that has used every step in bad faith to hobble and hamper a negotiated agreement with Iran.

The question is: what planet has Ban Ki-Moon been living on? The fact is that Iran has done everything to comply with the IAEA and its obligations to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran has consistently demonstrated its peaceful nuclear ambitions and its responsibility to the NPT – unlike the Western powers and their illegal nuclear-powered Zionist rogue state. Just this week, Iran even invited the member states of the NAM to visit its nuclear facility at Natanz – an unprecedented show of openness.

For Ban to reiterate such unfounded, scurrilous suspicions against Iran on the day that it assumes the presidency of the NAM is a reflection more of his abject servility to Western powers – and it underscores the urgent need for a total structural reformation of the UN to make it more democratically accountable.

What was even more telling was what Ban omitted to say in his speech at the NAM summit. Unlike his pointed jibes at Iran, he only used the vaguest language to condemn the violence raging in Syria whenever the evidence is glaring that the US, Britain, France and their Turkish, Israeli and Persian Gulf Arab allies are now openly flouting international law by fuelling a covert war of aggression in that country.

Just this week, a US Congressional report revealed that the United States is responsible for nearly 80 per cent of all global arms sales in 2011 – some $66 billion worth – a figure that has tripled on previous years. Half of this trade in weapons and death has been plied by the US to the Persian Gulf monarchies who are in turn laundering the arms to Syria. No words of condemnation from Ban on that.

Nor did the UN chief speak out to condemn the illegal economic sanctions that Washington and its coterie of imperialist allies have slapped on Iran – sanctions that are, in effect, an act of war and are viciously imposing hardship on Iranian civilians, including thousands of infirmed people in need of vital medicines.

Nor did Ban condemn the Western powers’ covert war of sabotage and assassination of Iranian scientists, some of whose bereaved families were attending the NAM summit as he spoke.

In a further reprehensible omission, the UN General Secretary lauded the Arab Spring pro-democracy movements. He mentioned several countries by name, but significantly did not include Bahrain even though the people of that country are being butchered and incarcerated daily since their uprising in February 2011. The Western powers and their corporate media do not mention the depredations of their despotic ally in Bahrain against women and children. And neither does Ban Ki-Moon.

No, he would rather engage in pejorative, baseless innuendoes against Iran, while disgracefully covering up Western crimes of aggression in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Iran and the ongoing slaughter of innocents with US drones in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.

NAM stands for solidarity against imperial aggression. In his address to the NAM, Ban Ki-Moon was acting like an ambassadorial puppet for his Western masters. Maybe in reforming the UN, the Non-Aligned Movement should from now on seek to ensure that any future head of the United Nations be truly representative of the concerns and anguish of the world’s majority, and not a diplomatic salesman for imperialist powers.

As a little sanity reappears from the August, we end with a month that has experienced two Full Moons (August 2 and 31). The 2nd Full Moon in the same month is referred to as a Blue Moon – this is indeed rare, but happens every three years.

Noticed the emphasis on the colour blue in the Para-Olympics!

The double Full Moon should bot be confused with the Signs of Al-Mehdi:

“… The moon will be eclipsed (lunar eclipse) on the first night of Ramadhan, and the sun will be eclipsed (solar eclipse) in its middle (of Ramadhan).” (Imam al Akbar Ali bin Umar Al-Daraqutni’s Sunan Al-Daraqutni )

Ka’b said: “ ‘A star will rise from the East before the appearance of the Mahdi and it has a tail.’ And Sharik said:‘ Before the appearance of the Mahdi, the sun will have an eclipse in the month of Ramadan twice.’ ”(Nuaim bin Hammad’s book Kitab Al-Fitan)

“A star with a tail that illuminates all places will originate from the East, at three or seven-day intervals.” (Muhammad Al-Barzanji’s book Al-Isha’ah li Ashrat AsSaa’h)

The Moon is the expression of man on earth. The ‘Blue Moon’ of August 31 enters the constellation of Pisces giving us 13 moons in one year. In opposition to the Sun, we are to keep a check on ourselves, reflect on what we do as it pertains to our aspirations. Are they true to who we are, and is what we doing true to who we are? We are to learn to be more sensitive to our needs so that we can lead more balanced lives. We can set goals for ourselves, and without double-checking, get lost in striving towards those goals, burying the fact that actually, we are not happy!

“If ten men want to enter a house, and only nine men find their way in, the tenth must not say: “This is what God ordained.” He must find out his own shortcoming was.” – Jalaludin Rumi

In opposition to the Sun in Virgo, the ‘Blue Moon’ in Pisces is also about opposites… accepting them, because by doing so we accept ourselves for a more fruitful life.

The Sun in Virgo means a change is taking place, are we ready for it! By reflecting on each day, we can make those adjustments to make sure that we are ready! The Moon in Aquarius on the 30th has been preparing for that by eliminating obstacles, even obstacles we create for ourselves!

It is sextile Pluto the discloser that brings issues to the surface. So any pent up energy needs to be expressed creatively in order to transcend a potential destructive nature. By expressing the pent up energy creatively, it one nips complexes before it is too late. This intangible cannot be understood with the mind, but with the body, because the mind is affected by societal tendencies. This means slowing down enough to let one’s body speak, it is not the mechanical instrument that modernity has taught us to treat with an on/off switch – it the vessel of our spirit, so it must be treated with respect! By listening to our bodies, it will inform our minds. Meditation, prayer, and contemplation will help greatly, and if one has not been so inclined, well something creative of the arts and crafts, can also help.

The ‘Blue Moon’ activates Uranus square Pluto, which is about what is no longer sustainable on a personal level and on a socio-economic level, as well as political level. This will be difficult for many, because for too long we have abdicated our choices, and handed it over to external forces, mentors, friends, etc. When they can no longer provide we lash out, but it was never their responsibility in the first place, especially if we left them to get on with it. In other words, it is time to learn to take responsibility for ourselves: health, diet, interests, education, livelihood etc. No more overdoing for others, and outdoing ourselves – how long can a piece of elastic stretch! On a global level we have just gone with the flow of things, but the tide is changing and there is no more room for denial, and it is time to heal.

Once we can heal and remove the wall of denial, whether it is about others, the system, and/or ourselves we will be closer to our truer selves, more whole and more able to attract those who will act as mirrors of what hurt us. This is a way of helping us in the physical world, a jihad an nafs, but not to make us hard, but with compassion to learn our boundaries with joy. To eclipse the heart with pain, anger, hurt etc is to shut it away from what nourished it – the process of forgiveness and letting go of the past in order to live in the present instead of using the past define the present and therefore missing out on what the present has to offer with tolerance for ourselves and therefore others.

Protesters gather at the Puerta del Sol square in Madrid on May 19, 2011 during a protest against Spain’s economic crisis and its sky-high jobless rate. Photograph: Pedro Armestre/AFP

By Oliver Tree and Mike Obel

Spanish consumers are pulling their cash out of banks at record levels, according to figures released on Tuesday. Private sector deposits fell by nearly 5 percent in July to €1.509, the Telegraph reported, citing European Central Bank data, as public confidence in the banking system reached all-time lows amid a worsening economic situation.

The news comes after bond markets continued to hammer the debt-ridden euro zone nations Spain and Italy last week.

On Friday, the interest rate on a 10-year loan to the Spanish government briefly topped 6 percent — a level that forced Greece into a default earlier this year, despite massive financial support from international sources — before settling back to 5.96 percent.

“The pick-up in yields is a clear negative headline for Spain,” Jo Tomkins, an analyst at 4Cast, a consulting firm, told the New York Times.

“The country is facing a double-whammy of low growth and tough austerity, and [there are] doubts that it will be able to hit already optimistic deficit targets.”

The surge in bond yields was followed by a two-notch credit downgrade by Standard & Poor’s, which slashed the country’s rating to BBB + on worries about the government’s exposure to the nation’s ailing banks. The current reduced rating is still considered to be investment grade.

The yield on Spain’s two-year notes surged to the highest level in 18 years, Bloomberg News said.

Meanwhile, Spanish unemployment climbed to 24.4 percent of the workforce, the government said.

Italy’s cost of borrowing was close behind its western neighbor: The yield on a 10-year note rose Friday to 5.84 percent from 5.24 percent.

“These … results certainly came at a price which, in turn, leaves a question mark over how long Italy will be able to finance itself at levels that can be deemed sustainable,” Richard McGuire, senior fixed income strategist at Rabobank, told the Wall Street Journal.

A source claims that NATO powers in coordination with Saudi Arabia are putting the finishing touches to a false flag plot to frame President Bashar Al-Assad’s forces for launching a chemical weapons attack as a pre-cursor to a NATO intervention which will use ambulances as humanitarian cover for a military assault.

The source told Syrian news channel Addounia that a Saudi company had fitted 1400 ambulance vehicles with anti-gas & anti-chemical filtering systems at a cost of $97,000 dollars each, in preparation for a chemical weapons attack carried out by FSA rebels using mortar rounds. A further 400 vehicles have been prepared as troop carriers.

The attack, which will involve the use of white phosphorus, sarin and mustard gas, will be launched on a heavily populated town near the Syria/Jordan border, possibly Daraa, after which the vehicles will pour in under the cover of humanitarian aid.

The ambulances, emblazoned with the slogan “Syrian People’s Relief,” will operate under the guise of an aid mission to help the victims of the chemical weapons attack, but in reality are nothing short of armored personnel carriers.

Traveling from Riyadh to the Jordanian capital Ammam before entering Syria, the vehicles will be used to create a buffer zone that will lead to a NATO military intervention under the pretext of punishing Assad’s regime for the atrocity, the source claims.

The company providing the ambulances is based in Riyadh and is also currently negotiating with the Yemeni government to manufacture military vehicles for the Yemeni Army.

According to the source, a meeting between the head of Saudi news channel Al Arabiya and a U.S. diplomat took place at the U.S. Embassy in the United Arab Emirates. The purpose of the meeting was to agree upon a conditioning program to prepare the public for the likelihood that Bashar Al-Assad’s forces would use chemical weapons. Shortly after the meeting, Al Arabiya began running news segments depicting the inevitability of a chemical weapons attack carried out by Assad’s forces.

The report coincides with public statements in recent days from both President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande threatening Syria with military action outside the auspices of the UN Security Council if it uses chemical weapons.

During an annual foreign policy speech to French ambassadors on Monday, Hollande warned Assad that any instance of the Syrian Army using chemical weapons against insurgents “would be a legitimate reason for direct intervention” by NATO powers. He went on to assure FSA rebels that France would not hesitate in recognizing them as the legitimate government of Syria.

On August 20, Obama cautioned that any attempt to deploy or even move Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons would represent a “red line” and result in direct U.S. military action.

“That would change my calculus; that would change my equation,” said Obama.

Up to 60,000 U.S. ground troops have apparently been prepared as part of a “worst-case scenario” wherein troops would “go into Syria to secure chemical and biological weapons sites following the fall of the Assad government.”

Observers have been warning for months that NATO-backed rebels, with the aid of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, were preparing to launch a chemical weapons attack that would be blamed on Assad, noting how rebels had been supplied with gas masks.

In addition, as far back as November it was reported that Libya’s new NATO-backed transitional government had agreed to send chemical weapons to Syrian rebels. In June it was reported that FSA fighters had now acquired those weapons are were training to use them at facilities in Turkey.

The FSA also recently announced that they had taken over a missile site equipped with chemical weapons under the justification that they wanted to prevent the weapons being used by the Syrian government.

It wouldn’t be the first time that a “false flag” attack has been used to demonize the Syrian government in order to grease the skids for military intervention.

As the respected German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported, the Houla massacre, which was immediately blamed on Assad’s forces by the establishment media, was in fact carried out by anti-Assad Sunni militants.

Some of the world’s leading business thinkers will descend on South Africa… where were they when the global economic crisis set in? One of the attendees Professor Michael Porter (author of 17+ books on marketing strategy and business competitiveness), apparently has advised governments and business leaders, so what happened to that advise!

Fronting an image that still exists amongst developing and emerging nations, these experts are to share their insights at the Discovery Invest Leadership Summit on August 30, 2012 at the Sandton Convention Center.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu for one will not be attending for the following reasons:

“The archbishop has spent considerable time over the past few days wrestling with his conscience and taking counsel from trusted advisers with respect to his attendance at the event,” the archbishop’s office wrote to the event organisers.

With the theme of this years Summit being ‘leadership’ for Tutu morality and leadership is indivisible, one that is not represented by most leaders today and one that Tutu’s conscience finds difficult to represent if he shares a platform with infamous former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Blair responded with the following statement:

Following Tutu’s decision, Blair released a statement according to the Mail and Guardian

“Obviously [Tony Blair] is sorry that the archbishop has decided to pull out now from an event that has been fixed for months and where he and the Archbishop were never actually sharing a platform.

“As far as Iraq is concerned they have always disagreed about removing Saddam by force; such disagreement is part of a healthy democracy.

“As for the morality of that decision we have recently had both the memorial of the Halabja massacre where thousands of people were murdered in one day by Saddam’s use of chemical weapons; and that of the Iran-Iraq war where casualties numbered up to a million including many killed by chemical weapons.

“So these decisions are never easy morally or politically”.

Feeling that His acts are wiped clean by someone elses act seems to make him innocent by dissassociating himself from what he has been responsible for.

Unfortunately, Tutu’s sentiment is also felt by some fellow South Africans who want to arrest him like many others around the world for war crimes.

“Since Pretoria politicians justifiably complain that the International Criminal Court mainly prosecutes African tyrants, leaving European and American war criminals to travel the world gathering huge speaking fees, some action by Foreign Minister Maite Nkoane-Mashabane would reduce the talk left, walk right accusation against South Africa. She might simply follow the recent lead of Malawian President Joyce Banda, who warned Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to stay away from Lilongwe on threat of arrest.”

… states the arrestblair website.

The Committe received many written requests to exclude Blair, but refused on the basis that the Summit has nothing to do with politics… that’s a good one!

Back to the Summit

Attendees at the Summit include:

Garry Kimovich Kasparov, born Garik Kimovich Weinstein to a Armenian mother, and Russian Jewish father in Azerbaijan is a chess grand master, writer, ‘political activist (pro-democracy and anti-Putin)’ who competed for the Russian elections in 2008! Author of How Life Imitates Chess – one for global governance.

Kasparov conducted a full day seminar on strategic thinking for UST Global corporation, Connecticut in 2010

His thinking can be illustrated in the following extract from an interview:

“An anti-democratic regime can be neither reformed nor modernized; it can only be dismantled. All the hope that goes into finding a way to somehow reform or perfect the current system is in vain. It’s impossible, because the essence of the system will remain the same.”

Pravin Gordhan, Finance Minister of South Africa, took part in the Natal Indian Congress call to boycott elections in the 1980’s, detained three times under apartheid, and a former member of the South African Communist Party (SACP) and African National Congress (ANC). Gordhan was former Chair of World Customs Organization, former co-chair of Transitional Executive Council which steered the multi-party negotiations towards the 1st ‘democratic’ 1994 elections in South Africa. Also Chair of forum on Tax Administration for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD.

The focus of his 2012 budget as stated in his address is creating jobs, reducing poverty, building infrastructure and expanding our economy. But he aso said:

“There are expanding opportunities on our own continent. Africa is the second fastest growing region in the world. This growth is sustained by high commodity prices…” and this we know does not fare well for the working classes, and reflects in the economic injusts they are facing.

Gordhan is on record for supporting the bailout of banksters following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Trevor Manuel who lobbied the world to grant the IMF a U.S$500bn capital boost to naively prevent global financial collapse. The other BRICS haven’t yet paid a cent. One jourmalist does not like Gordhan’s politics very much. Patrick Bod writes:

“Gordhan is paying a high price for the company he keeps, if the BRICS go along with Lagarde’s request to add to the bank-bailout kitty. Gordhan was asked by Moneyweb’s Alec Hogg about the $100 million Pretoria is expected to contribute to the IMF: “Many African countries went through hell in the 70s and 80s because of conditionality according to these loans. Are you going to try and insist that there is similar conditionality now that the boot is on the other foot, as it were?”

“Absolutely,” replied hell-raiser Gordhan, “The IMF must be as proactive in developed countries as it is in developing countries. The days of this unequal treatment and the nasty treatment, if you like, for developing countries and politeness for developed countries must pass.”

To add another question mark against Gordhan is his recent defence of the appointment of Mo Shaik as head of Development Bank of SA’s international subsidiary with the only relevant experience being ‘trained’ at the Harvard Business School.”

So we should all go down together!

“Growth is certainly going to be below 3% as we go into 2012,” Gordhan told CNN, a ‘lack of ambition’ in the eyes of the Democratic Alliance as Gordhan is already ‘preparing’ the country for harder times, but is that before or after the U.S$100mn gift to the IMF!

Sir Terry Leahy, former CEO of the Tescos supermarket chain. Received his Knighthood for services to the food retailing industry in 2002. Also, Senior Advisor to the private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier and Rice.

Leahy is also an investor in the U.K-based Hut Group, of which the main advisor is a Rothschild. The Rothschild Foundation was behind the Resource 2012, a sustainability-focused July event at the University of Oxford’s Examination Schools which included Leahy as a speaker alongside former US president Bill Clinton. Sir Evelyn de Rothschild was on a panel of experts for the Global Achievements Awards 2002 alongside Leahy. For someone who rose from the ranks of the working class the following comment does not sit right:

“Very noble social objectives, welfare, health and education, can only be met if the economy is successful and there are wealth creators. We take that for granted. We need to recognise that wealth creation is as noble an activity as working in public service and charities,”

As a believer in the free market, and someone who trusts people, in my eyes taxes are still too high.

Noble!

Leahy is believes in the rebirth of the culture of capitalism and the free market, the same market that rigs the system of trade whereby developing countries and countries they do not like are not paid a fair rate for their products.

It all depends on which side of the fence one is on, ironic as Bodn recounts in the case of South Africa:

The worst period was 1999-2001 when the largest Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed firms – Anglo, DeBeers, Old Mutual, SA Breweries, Mondi, Investec, Didata and others – were given permission by Manuel to take their party to London, switching financial headquarters and primary stock market listings away from Johannesburg.

The blood then hemorrhaged: corporate dividends, rich white people’s apartheid-era loot and ‘Black Economic Empowerment’ tycoons’ tenderpreneurship takings (e.g. Mzi Khumalo’s illegal R1 billion+ of capital flight) spurted out of SA at record rates. In 2007, according to economists from Wits University, the capital outflow amounted to more than a fifth of the country’s GDP that year.”

Michael E. Porter, recognized as father of modern strategy. The Institute for Competitiveness, India this year launched the Porter Prize. Porter is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School. Porter’s work is recognized by many governments, corporations and academic circles globally. He chairs Harvard Business School’s program dedicated for newly appointed CEOs of very large corporations.

Michael Porter has founded the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City – ICIC, the Center for Effective Philanthropy, and FSG-Social Impact Advisors. Porter co-chairs the Global Competitiveness Report, an annual ranking of the competitiveness and growth prospects of more than 100 countries released by the World Economic Forum.

Porter is also one of the founders of the Monitor Group, consultants in strategy which received flack in 2011 for contracts with Libya under Muammar Qathafi, which were not registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Porter serves on the Board of Trustees of Princeton University after obtaining his BSE in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, and is on the board of directors for Parametric Technology Corporation and Thermo Electron Corporation, plays an active role in U.S. economic policy with the Executive Branch, Congress, and international organizations.

Porter has an accolade of awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the United States Department of Commerce in 2008 for his contribution to economic development.

Like Leahy, Porter believes in re-inventing capitalism as demonstrated in a joint article with Mark. R. Kramer entitled “Creating Shared Value: How to Reinvent Capitalism — and Unleash a Wave of Innovation and Growth.”

Defining the concept of ‘shared value’ Porter explained to the New York Times as:

a more sophisticated form of capitalism,” in which “the ability to address societal issues is integral to profit maximization instead of treated as outside the profit model.”

But profit maximization at what cost to whom!

Porter is listed as the founding patron of the Nigeria-based Tony Elumelu Foundation, that invests in small and medium sized enterprises through the partnership with Heirs Holdings of which Elumelu is the chair of Heirs Holdings a principal investment vehicle, with a diversified portfolio, including interests in the financial services, real estate and resources sectors. CEO of the Foundation Dr. Wiebe Boer was formerly Associate Director of the Rockefeller Foundation. As if Nigeria doesn’t have enough interest in their interests, one feels a red flag waving here, even though Elumelu’s intentions is to drive African investment from within the continent as a former member of the World Economic Forum, a member of the Bretton Woods Committee that founded the World Bank, and the IMF after WWII, and is partnered with Tony Blair under the Blair-Elumelu Fellowship Programme. As above so below!

Sizwe Errol Nxasana, CEO of FirstRand Ltd., one of four of the big banks in South Africa. Nxasana was chair of the audit commitee for South African Revenue Service, CEO of Telkom SA Ltd, director for Development Bank of South. Nxasana is the highest paid banking CEO in South Africa, and the country’s first African CEO. Nxasana led a FirstRand alliance with China Construction Bank to provide Chinese investors with financial and advisory services in Africa, and for African investors in China.

FirstRand includes Rand Merchant Bank and FNB, and has a banking license in Kenya with eyes on Ghana and Nigeria. They acquired Finance Bank Zambia Ltd in 2011, the dealings of which have been investigated by the Zambia’s Competition Commission. The transaction was reversed when newly elected president of Zambia, Michael Sata, declared the U.S$5.4m sale had not been conducted properly and was therefore void. Mr Sata correctly sacked the governor Caleb Fundanga and the entire board of the Central Bank, accusing them of rushing through the sale without calling for competitive bids.

FirstRand is a member of the Peace Park Club. The Peace Parks Foundation was founded by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, Nelson Mandela and Anton Rupert. Other members include:

South Africa – De Beers Consolidated Mines, FirstRand, Standard Bank of South Africa,

“When the Berlin Treaty was signed in 1884, African territories were dealt like a pack of cards to colonial powers. The national borders then proclaimed cut across tribal and clan groupings as well as animal migration routes, fragmenting eco-systems and destroying biodiversity. Africa’s freedom was shattered an injustice that Peace Parks Foundation is seeking to rectify. The dream is to once again create an Africa where wildlife can roam freely across international borders” – Club 21

Richard Gnodde, Co-CEO of Goldman Sach’s Int’l who became partner in 1998. Gnodde was president and Managing Director at Goldman Sachs (Asia), president at Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte Ltd. He serves as a Director at Goldman, and former director of Goldman Sachs Australia Pty. Ltd. Also, Gnodde is trustee of the University of Cape Town Trust, trustee of Foundation and Friends of the Royal Botannical Garden.

The reputation of Goldman Sach’s in recent times is well known with constant bailouts from Federal Reserve loans at almost 0% interest, insider trading, and fraud. At the heart of Wall Street Sachs is was one of the three top donors to the Obama campaign, and is so again with Mitt Romney ($352,200) and Barack Obama (U.S$49,124)

Goldman Sach’s is a Rothschild banking entity (which still has major stakes in South Africa), that has a long history with deep connections, and many government officials around the world were former employees of Sachs:

John Corzine – former co-chief executive of Goldman Sachs, was former governor of New Jersey since 2006, and six years in the US Senate

Joshua Bolten – former director of legal affairs for Goldman Sachs, was a lawyer for George Bush’s 2000 election campaign, and was chief of staff since 2006.

Paul Deighton – headed the London’s planning for the 2012 Olympic Games was an investment banker for Goldman Sachs

Gavyn Davis – former economist for Goldan Sachs was former chair of the BBC, advsior to Gordon Brown, and married Prime Minister’s aide Sue Nye.

Robert Zoellick – head of international affairs was former head of the World Bank.

Lucas Papademos – the unelected Greek Prime Minister help the Greek government mask the true extent of its deficit as former head of Greece’s Central Bank, where he worked closely with Goldman Sachs to.

Mark Carney, working for Goldman Sachs advised the Russian government on economic policy, which ended in severe economic collapse, but profited Goldman Sachs. Carney moved on to head the Bank of Canada.

And the list goes on…

Stephen Koseff, CEO of Investec Group. Investec has just partnered with Glencore, one of the world’s largest commodities brokerage corporations, the head of which said the U.S. drought will be “good for Glencore” because it will lead to opportunities to exploit soaring prices. Koseff is director of Bidvest Ltd., member of Investment Committee and member of Human Resources Committee. Koseff was General Manager of Merchant Banking, former director of UBank. Koseff is also chair of the Banking Association of South Africa. On the 50th anniversary of Israel’s ‘independence’ Koseff was one of many awarded The Jubilee Award by then Prime Minister Netanyahu according to the Virtual Israel website. The award was to recognize those that through their investments and trade relationships, have done the most to strengthen the Israeli economy alongside Nicholas Frank Oppenheimer ,Chairman, De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd.

Investec specialize in investment and private banking, as well as asset management in the U.K, South Africa, Australia and Ireland.

The founder and organizer of the Summit is Discovery Group. Discovery Group, is the largest South African private healthcare provider. The Founder of Discovery Health is Adrian Gore who is also CEO of Discovery Holdings Limited a subsidary of FirstRand Ltd. Gore is also chair of both Destiny Health Inc in the USA and Prudential Health Limited in the UK, and director of the Vitality Group Ltd., a subsidary of Discovery Holdings. Gore is a member of the American Academy of Actuaries, CEO of Discovery at RMB Holdings Ltd and FirstRand, chair of the South African Board of Jewish Education, and director of Endeavour South Africa that is interested in developing entrepeneural talent. Gore served as a former board member of The Ethics Institute of South Africa. He has been a delegate of the World Economic Forum and in 2009, was appointed to the World Economic Forum Global Health Advisory Board, a component of the World Economic Forum that is committed to improving the state of global healthcare.

Adrian’s Gore’s views on success:

Success is defined by having a profound and proper dream. You need to have something that you want to do if you want to define success against – that’s the first thing. The second is that people should be positive – that’s a fundamental tactic and attribute. The third is that time is short – people should be urgent. And finally something I believe and the research shows that you should be honest.

Unfortunately, the Oppenheimer, Rothschild and Rockefeller influence is evident at this Summit, which looks like the colonialists/global governance is up to its old tricks… It will probably be easier this time around, but this is in the context of an apartheid that has never really been put to rest, for a people who maybe are no longer willing to remain quiet, while there are some willing to become leaders, that will lead the rich natural resources back to the global financial elite while they profit as secured by the Protection of Information Bill which was recently put in place.

Real decisions are being made out of sight of the people, but the people are restless as a new apartheid takes hold. The platinum mine disputes are but a reflection of the little that the employee get while billions flow out of the country to the coffers of the Bank of England. If the all impatient, even smiling Archbishop Tutu’s conscience will not allow him to participate in the facade, then the people will know that their eyes do not deceive them and are not willing to wait until the lion goes to sleep.

Dont be illuded by the title, this is more about what one should be aware of in order to become better prepared for whatever new application which befits the policy of whatever can be applied for civilian use will be accepted on a mass control scale/military.

Using the concerns of parents who justifiably want to know where their children are and what they are doing in these difficult times, San Antonio Northside ISD schools are using radio frequency identification technology (RFID) to make schools safer. Though the concept of making schools safer in a country notorious for school violence is great, the application is not! Besides the Smart card only works inside of the schools.

The idea serves the schools becuase it helps to increase much needed revenue, but the idea comes in the form of a Smart ID card!

As a 1-year pilot scheme with great potential, the Student Locator Project is being applied in Jay High School and Jones Middle School. At the end of the year, the data will be collected and analyzed for future ‘implementation’.

The Smart card is hoped will increase student safety, attendance, monitor class attendance access to library and cafeteria, photo-ID, and for the purchasing of tickets for extracurricular activities.

This comes at a time when RFID technology is being applied in prescriptive pills in the U.K., and approved by the Food and Drugs Administration on the basis of tracking one’s physical health. The data provided can serve to inform the establishment of further use from the current application which will inform ‘them’ of not only one’s state of health, but also status, and location with one’s full cooperation = not bad if one gets lost!

RFID used radio frequencies from the electromagnetic fields to transfer data, which can be done using batteries/local power source or can be powered by the electromagnetic fields themselves. They transmit data in the form of a serial number of an object/person that is unique to them.

The Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 and the Real ID Act of 2005 laid the foundation for future application. All states are to standardize biometric-laden birth certificates, drivers licenses and other ID cards.

In 2005, California’s Bill No. 682 was introduced by California Senator Joe Simitian to limit the use of RFID. The bill stated quite simply:

RFID is amazing technology that represents tremendous positive potential. RFID may be the best tool we have to keep our prescription drug pipeline safe, to alert us when an Alzheimer’s patient wanders, or to warn us when our car tire is getting low.

It is not the best tool we have for identification.

New technology requires new vigilance. New uses of old technology also requre new vigilance. If we don’t make deliberate decisions about the role of RFID in our lives, someone else will. It is that simple.

In 2006, the European Union created a commission to make recommendations on possible future regulation.

By 2010, healthcare bill HR3200 was passed on the 21st March, and signed into law 23rd March. It is now law that an RFID chip is to be implanted in all Americans by March 2013.

H.R. 3200 section 2521, Pg. 1001, paragraph 1.The Secretary shall establish a national medical device registry (in this subsection referred to as the ‘registry’) to facilitate analysis of postmarket safety and outcomes data on each device that— ‘‘is or has been used in or on a patient; ‘‘and is— ‘‘a class III device; or ‘‘a class II device that is implantable, life-supporting, or life-sustaining.”

Those chips will contain personal information (including bank account) with tracking capability. This is where science fiction becomes fact if one complies!

Are There No Side Effects!

The cell-phone is one of those popular devices that falls under the dual policy of what becomes acceptable to civilians will be accepted by them for ‘other’ purposes. Cell-phones/mobiles use microwave, and microwave is dangerous to the human energy field as indicated by the reports of the dangers of cell-phone use, but ignored becuase it has become acceptable! In a report by the European Commission Health and Electromagnetic Fields it states:

“Mobile telephones transmit radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (EMFs) to communicate with the telephone network. Although these are lowpower devices, the user’s body absorbs some of the energy in these EMFs, in particular in the region of the head where the telephone is held.”

RFID’s, some that is, are powered by the electromagnetic field and emit radio waves. In 2005, a paper by Bryan Houliston of Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, Houliston noted that electromagnetic waves emitted by RFIDs may affect pacemakers, and is questioning how prolonged exposure to EMR might affect patients. Then there are the instruments in an operating theater that produce EMR, which in turn could affect the low frequency of an RFID device. There was enough concern in 2008 over open American passports embed with RFIDs which was felt could trigger a bomb!

Are the real intentions to make RFID compulsory for every U.S. citizen to do with health!

The human energy field is a bio-electromagnetic field. It was in 2008 when researchers led by Raoul Kopelman (University of Michigan) found electric fields as strong as 15 million volts per meter, up to five times stronger than the field found in a lightning bolt!

In 1992, Bruce Taino of Taino Technology, Washington, built the first frequency monitor in the world.

A healthy human body during the daytime is 62 to 68 Hz. A cellular phone can radiate at 835MHz !

When the frequency drops, the immune system is compromised.

58 Hz – cold and flu symptoms appear

55 Hz – fungal diseases like Candida take hold

52 Hz -Epstein Bar

42 Hz – Cancer

Taino’s machine was certified as 100%.

Om P. Gandhi of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Utah questioned the safety of induced electrical fields as represented by RFIDs. RFIDs that use an alternating magnetic field operate at frequencies from 50/60 Hz – 10–15 MHz. This places RFIDs within the safe range, but can that be increased! On the market there are :

On May 31, 2011, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified radiofrequency fields as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration interpreted this as “… limited evidence showing carcinogenicity in humans and less than sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals.”

There are too many scenarios whereby an RFID underperforms or causes potential threats, yet a 2013 is in place. Why! If this in one of those developments in medical science that can be added to the long list of treatments that becomes classified as harmful to human health after thousands of cases are brought to their attention, then, between then and now, it is a matter of choice! With governments anxiously preparing for an expected natural disaster in 2013, when the solar radiation from the Sun is expected to knock out national grids, and negatively impact on hydroelectric dams and satellites, and cause surges in electricity even when devices are disconnected, one wonders what impact if any it will have on Americans who have met the 2013 deadline to have an RFID embeded within their person! That is not a figment of one’s imagination, it is a figment of theirs!

What Top Economists Said About Iceland’s Pull Out of the Global Banking System!*

Nobel prize winning economist Joe Stiglitz:

“What Iceland did was right. It would have been wrong to burden future generations with the mistakes of the financial system.”

Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman:

What [Iceland’s recovery] demonstrated was the … case for letting creditors of private banks gone wild eat the losses.

Krugman also said:

A funny thing happened on the way to economic Armageddon: Iceland’s very desperation made conventional behavior impossible, freeing the nation to break the rules. Where everyone else bailed out the bankers and made the public pay the price, Iceland let the banks go bust and actually expanded its social safety net. Where everyone else was fixated on trying to placate international investors, Iceland imposed temporary controls on the movement of capital to give itself room to maneuver.

Bloomberg:

Iceland holds some key lessons for nations trying to survive bailouts after the island’s approach to its rescue led to a “surprisingly” strong recovery, the International Monetary Fund’s mission chief to the country said.

Iceland’s commitment to its program, a decision to push losses on to bondholders instead of taxpayers and the safeguarding of a welfare system that shielded the unemployed from penury helped propel the nation from collapse toward recovery, according to the Washington-based fund.

***

Iceland refused to protect creditors in its banks, which failed in 2008 after their debts bloated to 10 times the size of the economy.

The IMF’s point about bondholders is an important one: the failure to force a haircut on the bondholders is dooming the U.S. and Europe to economic doldrums.

The IMF:

[The] decision not to make taxpayers liable for bank losses was right, economists say.

Key to Iceland’s recovery was [a] program [which] sought to ensure that the restructuring of the banks would not require Icelandic taxpayers to shoulder excessive private sector losses.

Bloomberg :

Unlike other nations, including the U.S. and Ireland, which injected billions of dollars of capital into their financial institutions to keep them afloat, Iceland placed its biggest lenders in receivership. It chose not to protect creditors of the country’s banks, whose assets had ballooned to $209 billion, 11 times gross domestic product.

“If we’d guaranteed all the banks’ liabilities, we’d be in the same situation as Ireland,” says Arnason, whose Social Democratic Alliance was a junior coalition partner in the Haarde government.

***

“In the beginning, banks and other financial institutions in Europe were telling us, ‘Never again will we lend to you,’” Einarsdottir says. “Then it was 10 years, then 5. Now they say they might soon be ready to lend again.”

And Iceland’s prosecution of white collar fraud played a big part in its recovery.

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Quote…

Peace be upon you and peace be upon us.
May You be in peace and may we be in peace.
Peace be upon those who returned the greeting and even upon those who did not.
Peace, in the name of the lord of peace, the lord of mankind, the god of eternity.
Peace in which we prospered.
Peace mixed with the earth of this country.
Peace in which we no longer live.
Peace which no longer lives in us.
Peace we keep an eye on while it packs its bags.
To abandon our lands, little by little.
And it is replaced by surrender and submission to an islamisation in which there is no islam.
As if the islam of our grandparents no longer had anything to do with us.
Do you know why peace is abandoning us?
Do you know why darkness is all around us?
To put it simply, because we are a society that fears.
We are a society afraid of difference.
My words will not please some of you, or most of you, or all of you - i know.
But i will say them because i refuse to be one of the herd.
We are a society which refuses to admit that it is a society that lives in ignorance.
We are a society that shots with all audacity and pretends that it carries a different message.
We are a society that loves to claim superiority without having a valid reason.
And pretends that it is an educated society. It is sickening!
Among us, the acceptance of difference is nothing but a cover.
The difference in colour does us harm.
The difference in shape does us harm.
The difference in thinking does us harm.
The difference in religion does us harm.
Even the difference in gender does us harm.
That is why we try to kill any difference in our midst.
We have turned into a lethal poison for each other.
We are a society more stupid than stupidity itself.
Yes, we are a society more stupid that stupidity itself.
We fight over silly things, over delusions, over superstitions
While always refusing to look into the root of the problem.
And none of us is innocent of that. No!
No citizens nor politicians.
No those who find comfort in silence.
Nor those who pretend to be saints.
Nor those who follow the west blindly.
Nor those who pretend to go back to the glory of the caliphate and the slave markets.
And to the amputation of the limbs of those who differ.
Today, let us try to look inside ourselves
Inside the depth of our souls.
Let us try to embrace our souls.
Let us try to embrace our differences with our souls.
Here i am, before you, with my colour, with my hair, with my poetry, with my peculiarities, with my ideas.
I am not afraid of you.
I don’t fear that you’re different from me because i am part of you and you are part of me.
Let us create art. Let us grasp the dream.
So we can erect a culture without stupidity,
So our sophistication becomes the best of caliphates.
Let us melt away the traditions, the classes, the types, the ideas, the colours and the religions.
So we see nothing except the human being.

Dance of the Heart

Rejuvenate your Life with Aloe Vera

The pain you create now is always some form of non acceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is.

On the level of thought, the resistance is some form of judgement.

On the emotional level, it is some form of negativity.

The intensity of the pain depends on the degree of resistance to the present moment , and this in turn depends on how strongly you are identified with your mind.

The mind always seeks to deny the Now and to escape from it.

In other words, the more you are identified with your mind, the more you suffer.
Or you may put it like this the more you are able to honour and accept the Now,the more you are free of pain, of suffering and free of egoic mind.

Why does the mind habitually deny or resist the NOW?

Because it cannot function and remain in control without time,which is past and future,so it perceives the timeless Now as threatening.

Time and mind are infact inseparable .

Sunday Wire

Reader’s Reflections…

From Robert on San Francisco Judges Dismiss 66,000 Arrest Warrants against the Homeless*

Living on the streets cuts an average of 25 years from a person's life and degrades the quality of life for everyone. Another feature of the homeless population in San Francisco is that many of these people are simply too ill to care for themselves. We're almost half a century into the failure of the social experiment that closed the State Hospitals and no closer to ending the experiment now than when our media first noticed the experiment had failed in the 1980's.

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From Chatty on One Corrupt President Ousted*
What do you know, a democratic breath of fresh air SOMEWHERE in the world...amazing. I'm glad the people's voices were heard and the police did their jobs. Fantastic, and I hope South Korea can heal from this and get good leadership.

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From Joann on One Corrupt President Ousted*

Such a sorry business, sorry for the South Korean people, and sorry for former President Park Geun-hye (so foolish and weak). But I am very glad truth was revealed, and we may hope for fair punishment, and perhaps rehabilitation, involving prison time. This needs to become a world-wide trend.

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From Necltr on World Bank Declares itself Above the Law*
World Bank, World Loan Shark, to use selected politicians and troops to take over every nation and all of humanity

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From TheChattyIntrovert on India’s Cashless Villages not Really There Yet, But the Nightmare Has Begun*

I'm too paranoid to believe in a cashless society myself--too much identity theft here in the states, and too damned easy when everything's done electronically.

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From Mark on Jury Refuses to Convict Activist for Shutting Down Pipeline*

This is why the ruling elite have nearly eliminated jury trials.
If you didn’t know that your democratic rights to trials by jury had been eliminated for everything but felony charges, see http://americanjurypower.org/home/no_right.php and don’t miss the supreme court case at the link in that article in which 5 so-called conservative, strict constructionist justices found an invisible word in 2 clauses in that quaint old constitution in the ruling elite’s latest effort to convert a justice system designed to be controlled by the people into one controlled by the ruling elite.

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From N on Scientists Find Fluoride Causes Hypothyroidism Leading To Depression, Weight Gain, and Worse…*
For ambitious global tyrants, fluoridation is part of a win-win-win-... program; for at least 6.5 billion people it is lose-lose-lose... Lose mental capacity of ourselves and children, lose length of life, lose, free will ... For the Globalists, win a servile, depopulated humanity with no ability to know what is happening to them, let alone a capacity to solve their problems.

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From M… on New Report Exposes Rockefeller Dynasty’s Role in “Climate” Scam*
John D., Sr. had a brother, William Avery, with whom he founded Standard Oil and worked until William's death. The families still work cooperatively, like the Rothschilds, but in a smaller way. When you think of petroleum and banking in this country, think Rockefeller. Their man Nixon took us off the gold standard and prevented the silver certificate, replacing precious metals with the petrodollar. Think of global power possibilities with a monopoly of that liquid black gold, especially when accompanied with the fiction of supply limitation held for many decades.

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From Neben on The Taino of the Caribbean: the People Who Do Not Exist

I am Taino and Caiqueto, living in Georgia. We must unite here in the continental U.S.

My family are indigenous to "Hispaniola", "Puerto Rico", Aruba and Curacao. I have family members in Florida, New York, and other states.

We do and have always existed. These settlers and colonists need to be told our lives matter.

Even if our African brothers and sisters were brought here, or even travelled here on their own (many did), they became us. Not we became them. When you immigrate you assume the tribal identities and customs of the host nation. These colonialists know this so they lie and say our people no longer exist, and/or say that only mixed people and descendants of black slaves exist in the Caribbean. These are all lies. They have brainwashed people into voiding our birthright and inheritance!!!!

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From Chief Pedro Guanikeyu Torres on The Taino of the Caribbean: the People Who Do Not Exist

I find this blog article most interesting and it made me smile at the same time to see an old letter that my tribal council and I had published in Puerto Rico some 46 years ago and addressed to the Puerto Rican people as it make me feel really old today at 65 year of age today. Respectfully yours, Chief Pedro Guanikeyu Torres, Jatibonicu Taino People of Boriken (Puerto Rico) Tribal Government of the Jatibonicu Taino People of Puerto Rico

Moral Tales

“To be in ‘Islam’ is to be in that state of willingness to surrender, to let go of anything. It is the beginning of the awakening of intelligence . If you’re willing to let go of everything, whatever anxieties, fears, expectations , or desires you have, then your energy is available. Your intelligence sharper. Your actions more successful because you can see whether they relate or not.” – Sheikh Fadhlalla Haeri

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Community Notice Board

The topocentric New Moon Conjunction for the lunar month of Sha'aban will occur on Wednesday, the 26th of March 2017, at 22:32 AEST (10:32pm Sydney time).

The correct date to observe the crescent of Sha'aban is upon sunset of Thursday, the 27th of April 2017.

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A Sacred Conversation
Tasting the Sweetness of Prayer and Worship by Unraveling the Secrets Within. Practical steps in improving Khushu’ (Inner Concentration) in Salah and other forms of Worship in Everyday Life.
The greatest month descends upon us very soon, the light of Ramadan is fast appearing! Ustadha YASMIN MOGAHED (USA) delivers this FULL DAY Course for the 1st time ever highlighting and demonstrating Key Practical Steps in improving one’s daily relationship with Allah.
The course will cover:
Life’s Forgotten Purpose: Prayer
Practical Steps in Improving One’s Salah and Khushu (concentration)
Worshipping Allah in Every Day Life
Why are my prayers (Dua) not answered? Steps in getting Duas answered.
Following faith in testing modern times, steps in upholding identity.
Developing a sacred relationship with Allah
Searching for God in Everyday Life
SPECIAL FEATURE FOR THE 1ST TIME:
Exclusive Launch and Live Interview based on Yasmin Mogahed’s NEW Book: Love and Happiness. Purchase the copy & have it signed on the day!
Open Q&A Session
Special Guest Speaker:
Ustadha Yasmin Mogahed (USA)

Price: Early Bird discount: £30

Price after 5th May 2017: £35
Date: Sunday 21st May 2017
Time: 10:30am-6:30pm (Doors open from 9:30pm)
Venue: London Muslim Centre (Full details upon registration)
For more info and to book, please visit: www.alburujpress.com

The Radical Middle Way
{Surely they who divided their religion into parts and became sects, you have no concern with them; their affair is only with Allah, then He will inform them of what they did” – An.Anam 6:159).